Articles by Sofie Marien

June 1, 2021

How minipublics can help democracy – even if the wider public can’t take part

Sofie Marien

In representative democracies, many citizens feel disconnected from those who make political decisions on their behalf. In extreme cases, they may even refuse to accept democratic decisions and contemplate alternative forms of government. Lisa van Dijk, James Pow and Sofie Marien test the effectiveness of ‘minipublics’ to offset these problems

Sofie Marien

Associate Professor, KU Leuven

Sofie is director of the Democratic Innovations & Legitimacy Research Group at the University of Leuven.

She is interested in participatory and deliberative processes, and democratic legitimacy.

Sofie studies deliberation in likely places such as deliberative mini-publics but also in more unlikely places such as televised election debates.

Together with Nicole Curato, she chairs the ECPR Standing Group on Democratic Innovations.

Follow her on Twitter @_SofieMarien

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